(1) Green tea might obviously have different physiological effects from strong black tea with milk & sugar.

(2) There may also be a cultural/social aspect eg tea drinkers might on average have lower alcohol intake ...

I use a handmedown from my b/f ( a Samsung about 4-years old with internet switched off).

Will I be able to use it still in 15 years time when 5G arrives in Prasat? and will I still be able to order books from Amazon?

1 hour ago, bristolboy said:

Interesting article in the Financial Times about how Japan is not eager to give the UK the same deal as it gave the EU. Japan is the UK's 4th largest trading partner after the EU-EFTA, USA, and China.  Remember how Brexiters promised that such a deal would be easy to negotiate since all that would have to be done is copy the EU-Japan agreement? 

 

Japan trade accord becomes post-Brexit priority for UK

The UK is to make a trade deal with Japan one of its top priorities after Brexit, putting it on a par with the need to achieve similar pacts with the EU and US.

Until now, the UK’s principal post-Brexit trade goal in talks with the Japanese government has been to “roll over” the existing trade relationship which Britain enjoys with Japan as a member of the EU.

However, Japan has long resisted this “copy-and-paste” approach, believing it can secure far better trade terms from the UK than it did in negotiations with the much larger EU when it secured a bilateral Japan-EU trade treaty.

https://www.ft.com/content/b6a047c6-dafc-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17

 

If you want to read the whole article just copy the title and paste into google search. The ft.com link that appears will let you legitimately bypass the firewall.

Sensible people, the Japanese.

9 minutes ago, Damrongsak said:

I just keep thinking about telling time from a digital clock vs. an analog clock.  With the latter, I can immediately know the approximate time and even judge how much time I have left for something.  Not much thought required, just pattern recognition of a sort.  Could this be related to individual word recognition or perhaps ideograms or whatever? 

No. Just what you're used to. Your analog pattern goes back to early childhood. Your digital is much more recent.

I had an interesting experience about 3 years ago when I gave a Thai novel to our (then) 12-year-old niece. I had read the novel in English - a famous one from the 1950s set in early C20th Bangkok - and enjoyed it so thought (perhaps a bit prematurely) that I could give her the Thai original to read, the only book in a book-free illiterate peasant family.

The effect was startling. She was commanded by her elders & my b/f her uncle to sit at the end of the table where I was sitting with my laptop and read the book. So she interprets this to mean that it's a test of her reading-aloud ability and sits there reading out the words in singsong fashion. I don't know if the words were separated or all strung together on the page, but clearly this reasonably intelligent near-adolescent girl had no idea of reading a book quietly for pleasure ... So much for the village education system!

Book never seen again.

(1) Obviously a fruitcake.

(2) The Canadian people have of course done it to themselves. Will be interesting to see their judgment on themselves at the next national election.

(3) All people everywhere are 'racist', which is to say suspicious of foreigners particularly those who look different and talk funny. Just ask a dark-skinned Khmer like my b/f dealing with pale skinned Central Thais. Or try reading the 'seeking husband' columns in the Indian newspapers. Only pink people are supposed to feel bad about their perfectly normal identity feelings.

First the Kiwis, now the Cambodians. The post-Brexit British economy is going to be booming!

3 hours ago, samran said:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/18/britain-will-aim-for-freedom-of-movement-deal-with-australia?CMP=soc_567

 

 

so the brexiters bang on about controlling their borders but the reality is that they are out shopping new free movement trade deals. 

God help us! At least the Chinese, Vietnamese & Indian migrants contribute mightily to the Oz economy ...

2 minutes ago, Jean Marie said:

By companion I did not necessarily mean a man, nor is my name a woman’s.. 

Parbleu!

3 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

The Centerpiece of 21st Century Global Security

 

Since the first F-35 Lightning II rolled out of the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, Texas in 2006, the program’s reach has exponentially expanded around the globe.

Of the original nine partner countries –  Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States – six have received their first jets. There are also three foreign military sale (FMS) customers - Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

https://www.f35.com/global

And the codes for all the software are given to all those countries, are they? I don't think so.

10 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Perhaps they are not supposed to work well.  *wink*

 

No superpower sells Model A of Weapon 101 to anyone. Model A is reserved for the superpower alone. Close allies get Model B. Other allies get Model C. The international market gets Model D or E or surplus-to-requirements depending on assessment of need, friendliness, reliability and competence. Saudis probably get Model D ...

You would think the Usofans might have some boots on the ground at the relevant sites whose owners actually understand that BEFORE you press Button B you should press Button A.

I'm a bit old-fashioned but I still have my double-breasted pinstriped suit. A nice silk tie and silk kerchief in the breast pocket. Black polished shoes.

Very nice.

We can all sympathize with the HKers. But all they're going to get from the rest of the world is sympathy.

Expecting anything from the Brits currently is particularly laughable.

Basically they're on their own. If they handle themselves right, they may just win this round. But there are an indefinite number of further rounds to follow ...

2 hours ago, allane said:

I would appreciate a reply then if you can, we will be returning from an international trip in late Oct.

I will certainly post a report. Planned for 8 October: retirement xtn using 65K monthly + 90-day.

My last 90-day was in July, after a trip to VN in April. TM30 wasn't mentioned.

I've never done one yet, either for internal or international travel, and never been asked at Kap Choeng.

Guess I'll find out the latest when I do my annual renewal + 90-day in mid-October ...

I take it this means the COMBO method is no longer doable at CM, but not the 65K per month income method?

I plan to use the latter at Kap Choeng (Surin) in mid-October for retirement extension. If I can't do that, I'm f/d. Can do the 800K in the bank for next year but too late for this year.

3 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Had you taken the trouble to read up on issues pertaining to the silting up of reservoirs, which is an international problem, you might just have resisted the urge to type this cheap and unnecessary Thai bash.

 

https://www.internationalrivers.org/sedimentation-problems-with-dams

It makes a pretty gloomy read! And no suggestion of anything anyone can do about it other than plant trees to stop soil erosion.

What about dredging? Is that not a possibility in many cases? Obviously would need to be a permanent activity in cases where silting up is rapid ...

I still find it hard to believe that, across all of Thailand's dams, a ratio of 40 capacity to 17 usable is normal.